9A Fairytale History

We will visit the usually inaccessible castle and park complex. A guide will tell us stories about the 19th Century period in Gorzanów, its Herberstein residents and the creator of the courtyard theater, Karl von Holtei. Subsequently we will be able to create our own version of the history of the castle and paint related illustrations that will be presented at an exhibition in the castle interiors. Besides that, we will have an opportunity to prepare – based on information regarding Karl von Holtei and his theater – our own theatrical scenes and play them on stage.

Where do you look?

The origins of Gorzanów are dated back to the 12th Century when
the castle, that was later in the 15th Century during the Silesian
War with the Czech King Jiří from Poděbrady destroyed, was still
at that time located there. It is considered to be one of the most
precious and largest complexes of historical sights preserved in the
area of the Kladsko basin. The renaissance layout of the palace at
that time was still in the Bohemian Period and was ordered by
Count Johann Friedrich von Herberstein to be reconstructed into
the Baroque style during 1653–1657. The Herbersteins lived there
until the end of 1930. The castle and park complex were owned
by the municipality until 1997. Since then, after it had been sold
to private owners, until the year 2012, it had only been actively
falling apart, until it finally became the property of the Gorzanów
Palace Foundation. Since then, building, reconstruction and
restoration projects have been underway. The part of the palace
with its beautifully reconstructed wooden courtyard theater will
be handed over for usage in 2018.

The House of Herberstein belongs among the old aristocratic families originating in eastern Styria. Members of the House were not only civil servants in state administration, but also in the army and the church for centuries. The Silesian line of the House initiated around the year 1600 by Baron Johann Bernhard, the holder von Herberstein. Karl von Holtei was a German writer, author of theatrical plays, reciter and theatrical director. He was the director of the castle theater for twelve seasons.

The castle experienced a cultural flourish in the first half of the 19th Century. Under the government of Johann Hieronym Herberstein, a courtyard theater was built in the northern wing of the castle and attracted viewers from near and far. At first, the manager of the theater was the Kladsko native actor Karl Seydelmann, and from 1843 Karl von Holtei, a script editor and poet, took over the management. The cultural tradition declined after Johann’s death, and it was restored only at the beginning of the 20th Century, when then it was once again interrupted by war.

Did you know that?

… among the identifiable busts that fill the individual arches of the vaults of the Gorzanów castle is the bust of Jiří from Poděbrady?